Burning Little Liars: A Sequel to Wanted
by ByTheBlyGirl
Summary: Allison D. has moved on from luxurious Rosewood, PA. Unfortunately, her new life isn't going to be so easy-the past is the hardest thing to escape, let alone the people that want to hurt her the most...  Rated T for mild language and slight violence. R R
1. Chapter 1

1

UGG-LY AND STIL-GHETTO

Allison DeLaurentis walked proudly up the steps to Kassidy Morning, her new private school. She looked around but never faltered, even though her heels made her almost a foot taller. They were Gucci platform-wedges, dark purple. Her black plaid skirt was barely six inches down from her hips. Hey, there was nothing in the dress code about wearing your shirt almost five inches high than standard! And there was also no rule about what color tie you had to wear—that was why she had bought five of them, each only under seventy five dollars, last night. The one she was wearing right now was light lavender and looked like lingerie for your neck. She had seen the stunned-by-her-beauty principal glance at it and gulp. He didn't say anything about it.

Ali smiled. He was hot, too. He was probably only in his twenties. She definitely had a chance with this guy. Ali giggled viciously in the back of her head, recalling his face. He face pale, with very little facial hair; you could even tell that he had to shave twice a day, and that he had had to do it fast, because there were little red marks on his jaw and chin, and right above his mouth there was a little bit of stubble. He had dark blonde hair, like Ian's—shiver—and dark, burgundy eyes.

Perfect.

When Ali reached the doors, she waited for a hot lacrosse or football player to hold the door open for her. She waited a few seconds, but obviously, they were all in front of the school punching each other in the arms and acting like douche bags. So instead of an attractive, starry eyed macho-man hold his arm out for Ali, a short girl in tiny black Uggs stumbled towards the door, opened it, and almost closed it in Ali's face.

Before the door slammed, another girl behind Ali called out, "Omi! Wait _up_!" And grabbed the door before it could slam, slipped inside, and didn't look back. Ali watched from behind the glass door as the two girls collided and knotted their elbows together. So...one with Uggs and the other with black Stilettos. How last season. Her face turned tomato red. They hadn't even _glanced _at her, let alone stared. Were they the It Girls? Probably. They both had thinner torsos than Aria Montgomery had had and their waists were tinier than even Ali's. They definitely looked like the head girls at this school.

Well, Ali was going to buy their stock. And then she would destroy them, from the inside out.

But, first things first, she had to meet them, and she had to do it stunningly. She opened the door herself, beautifully angry, and quietly stormed towards them. Their backs were facing her, and at first she was tempted to tap on their shoulders. She remembered, however, that that was how Mona had first greeted her, and she definitely didn't want to be the nosy little wannabe. Her heels click-clacked as she walked pettily in front of them and glanced at the names on the doors. Her first period English teacher, Mr. Enercick, was a hard guy to find...

"Do you need help finding anything?" someone called in a sweet, slightly-dark tone.

Ali turned around, her eyes lighting up, expecting the Ugg or Stiletto girl to be standing behind her with her hand on her hip and a pissed off look on her face. It wasn't though.

This girl was short for her age and had dark red ringlets that went down almost to her hips. She was wearing the standard Kassidy Morning uniform, but her blouse was unbuttoned a lot and her tie was hanging loosely around her neck, completely undone. Her tie had hundreds of dark blue roses twirling around in it and the tie made her glassy blue eyes pop. She was, in a word, perfect. Her pale face glowed. Her red lips were glossy and naturally red.

The two girls in the back snickered. Obviously, the girl wasn't on their "Favourites" list. Ali gulped and was struggling deep in her head for her next step. How could this be? Ali always had things under control. _Always. _After all, she had the cleverness and power to manipulate three smart girls and murder two other ones. Although one of them was blind, so it wasn't exactly the hardest thing to do.

"No," Ali snapped, but she smiled. Then she turned and strutted towards the last door that was marked 'Enercick' and she took her seat. Today was practice. Tomorrow was the real game.


	2. Chapter 2

2

EVERY DIRTY LITTLE DETAIL

Allison DeLaurentis wasn't usually the kind of person to wander around aimlessly without a friend by her side and a boy by her hips. She was, more or less, the kind of person that was followed around by every person that saw her, dazzled by her flawless skin, heart-shaped face, big blue eyes, and light blonde locks. She also wasn't the kind of person that got frightened by the idea of new things.

But right now, Ali was not like herself, _at all. _

The cafeteria was swarming with lunch trays and heels. Sunglasses went up as doors slammed and people went out to the picnic tables. The cafeteria was mostly just windows and steel-looking tables.

Ali was standing, almost touching the wall, at the back of the café. She wasn't sure what to do or where to go, so she just looked around and tried to take calm breaths. She dug her perfect nails into her lunch tray, which held a parmesan vegetable wrap, a fruit bowl, and some naturally flavored water. She thought she could already hear her body thanking her. She didn't want to be fat, right?

"First days are so hard," chimed a high voice.

The same girl with the bright blue eyes was standing was next to her, holding her tray. She had the exact same thing; except for that she her water was clear, not pink. Ali smiled, regardless of her jealousy.

"Not too bad," she said, confidently. What, did the girl think she was some kind of socially awkward freak who had barely made it through middle school?

"I'm Sophie Sisca," Sophie said. "And you're Ali, right?" Sophie lifted her hand and plopped it on her chest, like she was touched, and revealed a set of periwinkle nails that were decorated with little dark blue roses.

"Yeah," Ali said, but she turned her head like she didn't really care about talking to someone that didn't appear to be very popular. Her motto was play hard to get, bitch. She didn't want Sophie to think that she was going to be friends with just any old loser.

Oh, wait. "Sisca? As in, Principal Sisca?" Ali's smile lifted.

"He's my stepfather," Sophie said. "My mom is about seven or eight years older than him." She gave Ali a strange look.

Ali almost squealed. Now, she definitely had to be friends with Sophie. It wasn't like Sophie was as bad as The Pretty Little Liars had been when Ali first picked them out at the charity drive. In fact, she was as pretty as Ali, though Ali would never admit it. Her fashion sense was a little bit strange; it was too blue.

"Do you want to sit with me?" Ali asked the girl.

Sophie's eyes sparkled. "Yeah, sure."

It looked like Sophie was playing the same game as Ali. As in, the act-nonchalant-so-that-the-other-person-thinks-that-you-think-they're-a-loser game. Sophie was better at it than most people; in fact, she even followed Ali through the maze of chairs hesitantly and was looking off into the distance, like she was suffering.

Ali stopped for a moment and Sophie went in front so that she could lead her to the table with the Uggs girl and Stiletto chick. Sophie sat down, as if they hadn't been snickering at her only three classes ago. When they saw her slide into the table, to Ali's surprise, their faces got brighter and they grinned.

"Hi!" Uggs girl said. She put her cheeseburger down.

Stiletto girl almost choked on her Diet Pib. "Hi!" she repeated.

"Hey, guys," Sophie said. She almost rolled her eyes.

Ali slid onto the bench and the girls gave her a doubtful, disgusted look. For a second, Ali thought that maybe it had been her that they were sneering at earlier, but she tried to push that idea out of her head.

No, she was Allison DeLaurentis. She was beautiful, hot, gorgeous, smart, funny, and the most popular girl on the face of the earth. She had been like that since she was born. She was a star, and that was not something that some stupid, cheap giggle-girls could change. She was clever. She was flexible. She had killed more than just one person. It took talent to do that.

With that in mind, Ali set her tray down and drooped her lower lip so that she looked like a cute little dog. "Mind introducing me?" she asked, smiled, and tipped her head at Uggs and Stiletto while her eyes were on Sophie.

"I don't know their names," Sophie admitted. She pointed to Stiletto and said, pondering, "Riley?"

Riley shook her head. "No. Stella."

Sophie pointed to Uggs. "And Naomi."

Naomi dropped her smile. "Omi."

Ali looked at Sophie. Was it just a coincidence that she had said the names of Ali's ex-best friends from sixth grade? Sophie gave her the same knowing smile that Ali had given every person that she knew, a thousand times.

Ali knit her eyebrows together. There was something about Sophie that felt familiar. She got a shiver. She talked just like someone she had heard speak many, many times over.

"Well. This is Ali."

Stella and Omi nodded but didn't smile.

Sophie's thick, red lips curved into a mischievous heart and she raised her eyebrows. "Now that we all know each other, I'd like to invite you to my house today." All of the girls nodded, except for Ali. Ali just shrugged. "And I'd like to play a little game right now," Sophie added, not even waiting for Ali to answer her.

Ali took a swipe of her flavored water and raised her eyebrows. "Only if it's a good one," she said and giggled.

"Only if it's a dirty one," Stella added. No one laughed.

"I'll tell you one of my secrets and you will all tell me one of yours." Sophie said. She was still smiling.

"Why?" Omi asked.

Ali shivered when Sophie looked at her. This game was definitely familiar. _And_, when she looked Ali, it was like she knew something. Like Sophie knew _every dirty little detail _of the last few years.

Ali was shocked. She felt like an ice cube.

Sophie turned to Omi. "Because secrets are what hold us together," Sophie answered, but her eyes weren't on Omi.

They were dead on Ali.


	3. Chapter 3

3

Alison DiLaurentis' first day of school whipped by, and after she stopped at the mall to get a few new pairs of shoes, she was standing on the doorstep of Sophie Sisca's mansion. It was a very strange looking house: it was wide and had an even wider wrap-around porch. The house was beautiful, regardless of its strange, bright yellow color and light periwinkle shutters. Ali couldn't help but frown, remembering the temporary apartment her parents had moved into, last minute. Their apartment was in a beautiful, glamorous penthouse that had modern architecture and soft, light colors in all of the rooms, but it still made Ali unhappy. It reminded her that her murders _had _cost a tiny price after all: she had had to move to a completely new place and try to find her way around in a crowd of unfamiliar people that didn't recognize her dazzling flawlessness. It was as though they could see right through that new spray tan and into the pruny heart buried deep in her chest. The pruny heart that barely existed.

Omi and Stella rounded the corner of the street excitedly. They first acknowledged the hugeness of the home and the beautiful topiaries and grinned. Ali snarled in the back of her head; it was supposed to be _her _magnificent house that they were gushing over. It was supposed to be _her _house that they were running up the walkway to, with big grins on their faces and thoughts of self motivation in their minds.

So then, how was it that _Ali DiLaurentis _was the vulnerable one in the situation?

When the girls spotted Ali standing farther up the porch, to the side of the door, they stopped grinning.

"Why are you here?" Stella asked.

It was then that Ali got a different perception of them. She realized that they were even more popularity-starved than Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily had been back in sixth grade—or from what Courtney DiLaurentis' diary had said. Stella was leaner and thinner and a little bit taller. She had switched her Stilettos and school uniform to an Alice Olivia deep red halter top, a pair of tight, black Guess skinny jeans, and a pair of Mary Jane "Nebraska" flats.

Omi had a more vintage style. She had switched from black Uggs into brown plaid flats that looked like they were from Old Navy—Ali winced—and a faded sepia dress that Ali had most definitely seen from Forever 21.

"Why are _you _here?" Omi repeated, stepping off to the side of Stella and putting her hands on her hips. Her fierce expression wasn't at all menacing with her petite frame and short little arms and legs. It was not too far from hilarious.

Ali smiled. She didn't want to get angry at a girl so little. Ali could easily snap her neck while she was sleeping anyway. She laughed lightheartedly. "Silly, Sophie invited me! You were at the table when she did." She put on her innocent, hurt expression. "Is there something wrong?"

Stella stepped in front of Omi and huffed, crossing her arms. "We just don't understand why Sophie is getting all friendly with you. She's been on the verge of talking to us ever since freshman year, and here you just have to come steal our thunder. We don't want to share Sophie. She's much too popular to split."

Ali's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I had no idea..." she sighed and placed her hands on her sides like she felt suddenly very misplaced and awkward, even though she was secretly enjoying every little painful word that came out of Stella's mouth.

"It's just that I just moved here," Ali continued. "And I didn't see anyone that looked very friendly. I was a little bit frightened at first, but then I saw you two, and I almost started talking to you, but Sophie came and befriended me. I was just so...happy that she was being warm to a person that she'd never met before." She glanced at Stella and then Omi, faux-hopeful expression pasted on her face. "I guess...I guess I should just tell Sophie that I can't be friends with her any more because she needs to spend more time with the people who claimed her first." She bowed her head and gulped.

"No," decided Omi. "Don't tell Sophie anything that I just told you."

"Definitely not," Stella barked.

"Fine," Ali said, suddenly looking superior. "Then you have to become part of my clique. You have to try to ignore Sophie as much as possible. It will make her jealous. I'm not going to be the one under her thumb. I'm the one who deserves to be on top here."

Omi and Stella looked genuinely pained as they stared into the distance. The silence made the inspiration for a new motivation spark deep in Ali's skull. She found a new game. A new game to win, and a new game to control.

"Hey, girls!" chirped Sophie, swinging open her door.

Omi and Stella linked arms with Ali. They smiled with Sophie, dazzled by her new appearance, (they had never seen her out of uniform, but they had always imagined it would look this stunning) but their smiles faded when Ali rolled her head around her neck and gave them the evil eye.

"I'm sorry, Sophie," Omi said, looking truly sorry.

"But we've got to go to Ali's house really quickly," Stella finished, flashing a pathetic, helpless smile. "She has a new outfit that she wants to show us two."

"We'll be back in an hour," Ali said briskly. She shrugged at Sophie, giving a fake, displeasured frown, but then returned to her mischievous, I-know-your-secrets grin. But, as she turned to head down the pathway, she noticed for the first time her shirt.

It was a bright yellow, sleeveless blouse.

The exact same shirt Courtney had worn the night that Alison had murdered her.


	4. Chapter 4

4

Ali's arms felt numb as she steered her vintage black Mercedes around a corner.

The whole ride from Sophie's house had felt like a blur. She'd been trying to get the image of Sophie in a disgustingly familiar shirt out of her head; it was hard. She kept imagining Sophie's long auburn curls straightening into beautiful blonde locks and her nose morphing into a nose that looked almost exactly like Ali's. She shivered when she thought of that idea; of Courtney swinging open Sophie's door and greeting them.

_Swipe. _The idea cleared.

"So, girls," Ali said. "Let's just us go to The Mola for a bit. I'll buy." She turned her head and looked in the back seat to see Stella nodding carefully. Omi didn't even look at Ali when she mumbled an 'alright'.

"We could go to the GAP and take some pictures of us in cute dresses," Stella suggested quietly. "And show them to Sophie. It would make her _soo _jealous, I bet."

Ali smiled. At least one of them was starting to catch up with Ali's brilliant idea.

Omi flashed Stella something like a growl but still didn't say anything until Ali had driven for a few more minutes. "Sophie's not going to be jealous," she threw at Ali. "She's just going to find away to switch the situation around."

"Fine." Ali snapped, still smiling. She smirked. "Then I guess I can just tell Sophie that you losers have been waiting for Little Miss Popularity to come pick you out of the nerdy ditch to two have been lying in since middle school." The last part was just a guess, but from the halted look on Omi's face, Ali had been telling the truth.

"Or," continued the now extremely motivated Ali. "You could keep playing along and I could help you more than Sophie ever would have." That was enough said, and Ali could tell that a vision of Sophie begging Omi back into her little clique had came to mind. Ali glanced at Omi, who bit down hard on her tongue, and then back to the road.

Ali pulled into the gas station and jumped out of her car. After a swipe of her credit card, she almost got right back into her car, but something caught her eye. If a flash of blue eyes and familiar blonde locks had scared her before, never this much.

Ali froze. She looked around, gulped, and barely let herself relax again before she saw a note now taped to her steering wheel. After she made sure that Omi and Stella were still inside the gas station getting some gum, she opened her car door and clutched the piece of paper.

On front of the paper was a snapshot of Alison DiLaurentis with a pissed-off look on her face. The paper said things about how maybe, even though police were sure that she went up in flames, Alison had ran away and would strike the Pretty Little Liars again, soon.

Ali's face went much more num than even her arms had been, previously. All of her excitement over silly things like clothes and popularity and revenge disappeared, and a feeling that Ms. Alison DiLaurentis, fabulous, sheik trend-setter of Rosewood, PA, had never felt before _swooshed _into Ali's chest.

That feeling was incredible fear, because written in painfully beautiful handwriting on that clipped-out newspaper was

DON'T THINK THAT YOUR BIGGEST PROBLEM IS SOPHIE ANYMORE. THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE THAT WANT TO HURT YOU OUT THERE.


	5. Chapter 5

**First of all, thanks to everyone for the awesome reviews! You guys keep me going! Love you forever!:) **

**Sorry about the shortness of chapter 4. I know, it wasn't very exciting, but I just wanted to get it over with so that I could start on chapter 5! Sorryy! **

**Keep reading! Reviews are optional, but appreciated to the highest. Enjoy! (Also, sorry if there are a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes. I'm always in a hurry—one of many flaws, haha—and sometimes I just completely forget about checking it over!:p) **

5

The sound of the toaster popping out Alison DiLaurentis' low-carb, sugar-free waffle made her jump.

Ever since waking, Ali had been very jumpy. Even the sound of her quiet, sing-song alarm and the sound of her shower running had made her heart race. She grabbed her waffle and slammed them onto her plate. She turned and took the natural strawberry jam out of the fridge, but paused before she closed the door. She froze when she heard footsteps, and almost dropped the jelly. Someone's hand clasped her shoulder and she screamed, now throwing the jelly on the ground and whipping around.

Mrs. DiLaurentis her eyebrows together, horrified. Her mouth fell open. "What the...Alison?" she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," Ali said coldly, pushing past her mother. She despised how worried her mother always acted around her.

As Ali slammed the front door behind her and jumped into the elevator, she thought about something. Ever since her parents moved her away from Rosewood, she felt especially vindictive towards her mother. In fact, she had thought, lately, about ending their bossy protectiveness with just a hammer and a knife, but realized a few cons to that idea. Such as the fact that she wouldn't have anyone to buy her things. Such as the fact that it would draw attention to the media, and then the police would track down that Alison DiLaurentis that had suddenly appeared out of the ruins of her vacation house.

Ali pressed down the 1. She disliked having to go down an elevator to get to the lobby, where she had to see people, and then to her car. She missed the days of slamming the front door and then being gone to school, not all this crap in between. Oh, well.

Ali's phone bleeped. She dug it out from her purse and briefly admired her lime green nails that she had had painted in the company of her new BFFs, Omi and Stella. She had even worn a lime green and deep blue checked tie.

_1 New Text Message_ read the screen. With her fingernail, she touched the screen and it lit up with a message from Omi. _Meet us at Japore. _Japore was the coffee shop, conveniently located next to Ali's first class, English.

Ali rushed out of the elevator and escaped to school, where her two new victims were awaiting her arrival.

"Hey, Sophie," Ali chimed. She was wearing her smug smile, the one for showing off all of her perfectly sculpted, ultra-white teeth. She waited for Sophie to turn around in her desk before she continued, "I'm so sorry about blowing you off yesterday. Omi and Stella and I just had some major, major shopping to get done. You know, just the three of us."

Of course Sophie knew. "Alright," Sophie said. Ali shivered when she gave her an even smugger smile, pinching her lips together and twisting her head. The girl sitting behind her grinned.

"Hi!" the girl exclaimed. "I'm Tiffy!" She waved a little bit but immediately looked at Sophie. Ali put in index nail onto her teeth, wondering what it was about this girl that made her seem...strange.

"Tiffy's going to be part of our group now," Sophie put in.

Ali's lips curled. "This is a four person clique," Ali jabbed. She narrowed her eyebrows and frowned. "So either you can take that little idea out of your head or you can just go start your own clique."

Sophie grabbed Tiffy's hands, suddenly upset. "You can't make up the rules of _my own clique_," Sophie seethed.

"I can if it's my clique," Ali said. She watched as Omi and Stella walked into the classroom, oblivious to the argument sitting only feet away from them. "Stella! Omi!"

Ali had already met them at Japore earlier and she was confident that they wouldn't drag their feet anymore. Ali was pretty sure that her long, insipid blonde hair and glowing dimples had won completely against Sophie's blue obsession.

"I guess I won't see you at lunch, then," Sophie concluded briefly. She turned her head back to the chalkboard and to her new friend's face.

Stella and Omi took the seats on either side of Ali and smiled at her. They were completely ignorant of the fact that Sophie was no longer in the bargain, but that wouldn't be something Ali would mention until she absolutely had to.

After a few minutes, the teacher came in and started a lesson, drawing things on the chalkboard the didn't matter to Ali. Omi sent Ali a text message and Ali's phone vibrated in her pocket. _Who's the bitch? _

Ali texted back _Sophie's new clique member. _

_And ours, two? _

Ali bit her lip. _Not exactly. _

_What?_

_I'll explain after school, okay? Sleepover tonight, got it? God, I love Fridays! _Ali had flawlessly turned the unexpected horror of losing Sophie's friendship into a celebration.

_Can't wait. Sophie coming? _

_No. Just you, me, and Stella. _

Obviously, Stella had started to feel left out.

_What's going on? _the girl seemed to bark through her text message.

_I'll explain at my house tonight. Sleepover. _

Stella's mouth twitched. Ali could tell that she was worried about Sophie abandoning them. _Okay. _

The lunch bell sounded, and Ali's chest tightened. This would mean having to explain why Sophie wasn't sitting with them today at lunch. She grabbed her phone and bag and click-clacked out of the classroom, Stella and Omi at her heels. They passed the Japore, which closed at lunch hour because the school didn't want the children to just drink coffee and crumb cakes for lunch.

Ali glared as Tiffy and Sophie entered the cafeteria at the other end. People greeted the apparently new girl, Tiffy, and gushed at Sophie's shoes.

It was then that Ali noticed what Tiffy was wearing. Tiffy had on the exact same tie that Ali was wearing, and the exact same shoes. In fact, now that she thought about it, Tiffy had the same heart shaped face, blue eyes, and blonde hair that Ali had. If someone had only seen Ali briefly once, they might've thought that Tiffy was that girl that they had seen.

"Hi, everyone," the girl said.

Ali wasn't too close to the group of girls, but she was close enough to hear Tiffy say, "I'm Alison!"


	6. Chapter 6

**First of all, thanks for everyone who favorited my story! Second of all, thanks for the reviews! Third of all, ENJOY! I hope you will understand it a little bit. Previously, Ali found out that Tiffy, (Sophie's new BFF) is totally impersonating her. Sounds a little like someone Ali used to know, right? ...Or am I just leading you on? :) Bwahah. Read more to find out! **

6

Alison DiLaurentis shut the bathroom door, quietly taking big breaths.

She couldn't believe this was happening again. She couldn't believe that someone as fabulously clever would be standing against the grimy bathroom walls of her private school, breathing out her insides. She couldn't believe how awful everything in her new life had turned out.

She rubbed her temples and exhaled deeply, then dropped her clenched fists to her sides. First of all, Courtney was dead. Second of all, Tiffy was just a jealous psychopath that craved Sophie's gorgeous attention.

Although, how many people out there had an insane urge to impersonate people like Ali?

So far, Ali had only met one, and that was Courtney.

But. Courtney. Was. Dead.

_What the hell is going on? _Omi texted Ali. Ali stared at the message, over and over. She was wondering the _exact same thing. _

It wasn't too long afterwards that Stella texted, _Are you okay, Ali?_

Ali shut her phone. She wasn't going to reply them until she actually knew the truth.

She jumped back in horror when the door opened and revealed too-identical Tiffy. Ali put on a fierce expression and put both hands on her hips, bending her shoes a little bit. She was going to set this little brat straight.

"What the hell?" Ali seethed, closing the door after Tiffy and standing in front of it, blocking any exit.

Tiffy went over to the sink and started washing her hands, eerily calm. "I don't understand, Tiffy?"

"My name is Alison!" Ali screamed. She felt her whole frame shaking, transported back to the day that _Courtney _DiLaurentis was supposed to leave. Her words suddenly bounced off of her hold house and she felt terror inject into her skin as her mother stared at her in disgust.

"Alison is outside with her friends," Jessica DiLaurentis tried.

"That's Courtney!" Ali screeched. Now, _she _sounded like the lunatic.

"What do you mean?" Tiffy asked pathetically.

Ali didn't even have time to blush when she realized that she had mentioned her dead sister out loud. "Why are you doing this? Did someone set you up to this?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tiffy said. "My name is Alison, freak." She paused, playfully angry, and said, "Listen. I know that a lot of people would do anything to be me, but why should you try to impersonate me? That's just creepy. Do you want me to call the police?"

Ali tried to calm down. If Tiffy called the police, they would clearly understand that Tiffy was just playing a prank. Either that, or Ali would go to jail because one of the policemen might just recognize Ali as the murderer of Courtney DiLaurentis, Jenna Cavanaugh, and maybe a few more.

"Do you want _me _to call the police?" Ali asked. "Because I _will. _Freaks don't get away with crap like this." Although, she was almost positive that the police wouldn't arrest someone for such a harmless thing as dressing the same way as the girl that they clearly admired.

"Bitch." Tiffy-as-Ali barked, snarling. "Just leave. _You're _the freak here." Tiffy started towards the door, not an ounce of caution in her stride, and Ali wanted to make her regret her underestimation of what Ali was capable.

Just as Tiffy barely sifted past Ali, Ali grabbed her shoulders and shoved her away from the door. Tiffy screamed and tripped over her heels, her eyes wide. She gulped and cried out a few curse words at Ali.

Ali was horrified. It wasn't that she regretted assaulting the impersonator; she was just, strictly, horrified that suddenly, she was back in the night of the-end-of-seventh-grade sleepover that her twin had attended briefly in Spencer Hastings' barn. She imagined her hands clutching Courtney's vile body and then flinging her downward. She imagined Tiffy's body morphing into Courtney's.

"I told you that freaks don't get away with crap like this," Ali said, swallowing back her angst. She opened the door and then peered back at Tiffy childishly and added, "If you tell _anyone _about this, you won't even have the time to regret it before I make you pay." She flashed her unique I-know-all-of-your-secrets smile and then disappeared behind the bathroom door, easily confident that Tiffy wouldn't dare.

"All we need to do," Ali finished, gazing seriously into the eyes of Omi and Stella, "is one: get that dumb Tiffy girl out of the picture. And two: show Sophie that if she's going to come back into our group, she has to know whose boss." Ali didn't even have to _explain _that Ali was the boss, naturally. The two girls nodded; still slightly upset that Sophie had abandoned them for Tiffy, as if Sophie was their mother and had adopted a new child.

"Sounds good," Omi murmured, frozen in reverence.

"Of course," Stella agreed. She sipped her Monster, gazing into the distance. Ali wasn't sure how the girls drank that kind of crap and still owned their skinny form.

After a few moments, Ali started up a conversation about how totally awesome Stella's new Jimmy Choos were, (even though Ali thought that they were so last decade) and complemented Omi's Stuart Weitzman silver sandals.

"I'm actually glad we ditched Sophie," Omi said. "You have a much more sophisticated style than she does. Besides, who needs some loser that happens to be a principal's daughter? I'm sure she's, like, obsessed with grades and stuff."

"Yeah," Stella agreed with Omi, again. Then Stella struck a conversation that would probably make Sophie commit suicide (that was a thought that made Ali giggle at) about her ugly blue rose obsession.

As the girls were giggling and gossiping and clutching their throw pillows tightly, Stella and Omi's phones made loud beeps. The girls finished their laughs and then picked at their phones.

Omi gasped and Stella whimpered as they read their screens.

"Oh my god," Stella murmured, blankly. "Tiffy was murdered a few hours ago."

"What the hell," Ali breathed. She reached over past her black windows and punched the TV power button. She found her news channel and immediately, as if the news had found out just momentarily, a story about Tiffy Trinket's murder investigation. Apparently, Tiffy had been having a sleepover with Sophie at Sophie's house when Tiffy needed to go out to her car and get something. After over ten minutes, Sophie decided to go out to Tiffy's car and make sure she was all right. She found Tiffy's body in her minivan's backseat, both seatbelts wrapped around every part of her body and the fumes in her car suffocating. By the time Sophie unraveled her friend, she was dead. Police aren't sure whether the girl had already died from the toxic smoke before Sophie got there or if Tiffy might've had a chance.

"The police are positive," said the reporter, "that it was a murder. Tiffany Elaine Trinket would not have been able to tie her own hands and neck. Sophie Sisca, a classmate and friend, says that she saw a blonde head duck behind the car and run into the bushes. Sophie is not open for response yet."

Ali was frozen. "Oh my god," she said bizarrely. "This is so...weird."

Stella and Omi glanced at Ali strangely, knowing that 'weird' was not the right word to use after an innocent girl had just been murdered, but they didn't say so. They merely bowed their heads and sighed, not extremely upset but still mournful.

Ali wasn't on the same page. She still hadn't taken a breath. She got up, choking, and mumbled dryly, "I'm going to go get some air."

Ali addressed the door and walked dizzily into the elevator. She held down the top bottom and the elevator doors shut. When they opened, she was in the lobby, and the lobby TV was turned on so that everyone sitting on the couches could see a picture of Tiffany Elaine Trinket, called Tiffy, last summer.

Everyone stared at Ali as she stiffly went up to the vending machines. She punched the flavored mineral water and winced as the item slammed down into the bottom.

If Ali had been barely breathing before, she definitely wasn't now.

A damp white note was taped to her bottle. The writing was smudged and blurry, but it was clear enough that she could still read the words, vaguely.

WITH FAKE ALI GONE, JUST ONE TO GO.


	7. Chapter 7

7

Alison DiLaurentis clenched her mineral water and shook the note into the garbage, crinkling it in her fist. The flavored water was making her palm cold and damp, but she ignored it. She was too angry.

She had recovered from her recent fear. Now, she was seething. She couldn't believe that anyone would dare to mess with her new life. She smiled, briefly though, as she thought about something. About how she had messed with the Pretty Little Liars lives, and how they had not been very clever in trying to stop her.

Ali looked back to the lobby. No one had watched her read the note, but now they were watching her toss the note in the trash. In fact, they were _glaring. _Glaring like she had done something horribly wrong.What. The. Hell. Ali knit her eyebrows and shook her head from the television to the doors in the lobby. She tried to block out the sound of the report about Tiffy.

The sun was dimming through the windows. The sunset looked like someone had injected it with Botox, the pastel purples and pinks shining as they faded. Ali turned around; suddenly, she didn't want to go back to her apartment. She shifted into a pale green chair, secluded from the other couches that were surrounding the television. It was a very comfortable but misplaced chair; it was at the end of the lobby and right next to a potted plant that shaded her shoulders. She was a little bit annoyed by the strange leaves that poked her, but once she moved into a more comfortable position, she was able to get thinking.

First of all, she needed to drive by Sophie's house. She wasn't sure why, but she needed to. She needed to see with her own eyes the crime scene and get a better picture of what had happened. It was hard to solve a mystery when she had to conjure the crime scene up in her head.

She was also going to need to get rid of Omi and Stella if she was going to be driving towards Sophie's street. Unless she was going to do it tomorrow...but, she decided not, because by then the police could've drawn their own conclusions and she wanted to know everything before anyone else did. That was just her nature—knowing all of the secrets.

It was as she was thinking about this that Omi and Stella came through the elevator and bounded towards her, alarmed.

"Are you okay?" Stella wondered, grinding a strand of her hair between two fingers.

"I'm not sure," Ali said. "It's just...so..." She pretended to be pondering the right words, when really, she already had them floating in her mind. _Amazingly awful. _She smiled to herself, but looked back at them with a frightened frown.

"Do you want us to go?" Omi asked. The question was supposed to sound concerned, but it just sounded annoyed.

When Ali didn't reply, Omi frowned even further. Stella noticed Omi's discomfort and tried to make it less awkward. "It's...it's okay. We'll just meet up tomorrow, right?" She fixed her lips into an even more awkward smile and then gave Ali a very uncomfortable half-hug.

"It's a big shock for everyone," Omi murmured. She sighed. "I hope you feel better."

Omi kissed her on the cheek and started after Stella, who was almost into the elevator. After the girls had come back into the lobby with their suitcases, Ali waved goodbye and blew them both an air kiss. She made sure they had already left and she jumped up from her seat and pulled her keys out of her pocket. In only a few seconds, she was at the lobby door, and someone touched her shoulder.

Ali swung around, disturbed by the contact. Behind her was a lady she had recognized from the couches in the lobby. She woman shook her head and pointed at Ali's butt.

"What?" Ali hissed, twitching her head to the side. Her lips curled into a perfect little pinched-up-heart.

"There's a piece of paper on your back," the woman whispered, her eyebrows curling into an angry V.

Ali grabbed at her lower back and found the paper taped to her butt. It was a paper, scrawled in fresh blue paint, bearing loudly the word, KILLER. She glanced frantically over at the seat she had taken and saw the same blue paint smeared where her butt had been. The paper hadn't been on her back before; she supposed that she just hadn't noticed it when she sat down and then the tape hooked onto her pants.

"Oh. My. God," Ali screeched. She looked at the woman and mumbled, "Thanks." Ali crinkled up the paper and ran towards the elevator. Her heart was thumping fast in her chest, like an apple bouncing around in a bony cage. She couldn't feel her feet as she rushed into the closed space.

Ali was too scared to decide not to go to Sophie's house, but she knew that she wouldn't. It was going to have to wait until tomorrow—until she had the strength and guts to take one step out of her apartment.

Ali shuddered uncontrollably. This hadn't happened to her ever before. No one had ever dared to cross Ali's line.

With the exception of one girl; Courtney.

But Courtney was dead.

Before the elevator doors shut, Ali looked back into the lobby and saw the woman still standing at the doors, shaking her head. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, so, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. I've got a horribly case of writer's block, so if you are as big of a PLL fan as I am, suggestions are welcome! And not just welcome; they're ADORED! So any suggestions, ideas... (praises...? :), leave them down there! It's easy and makes me write better, eh? ALSO—if you are in ~dire~ need of some reviews as I am, also leave the name of your fan fiction and I can totally review it as well! Enjoy it. Love ya much! ~ByTheBlyGirl 3 **

8

Alison DiLaurentis stalked out of her room at six-thirty in the morning and sat on one of the stools at the counter. The windows above the kitchen sink showcased the new sun, which was very like a lit up egg yolk in reverse, sliding up the light blue canvas of the sky. Ali tucked her legs under the cool seat and opened the box of sugar-free donuts sitting on the counter and ate a moist, false-chocolate one that tasted like a goopy chocolate energy drink.

Mrs. DiLaurentis, Jessica, came out of her bedroom cautiously and walked into the kitchen with a sleazy bathrobe on that barely covered her knees, let alone her pale blue Uggs slippers.

"Why are you up so early?" Jessica asked. "It's a Saturday."

"Going jogging," Ali replied, without an ounce of comfort in her tone.

Ali thought she saw her mother shiver, but if she had, Jessica covered it up with a shrug. The woman trudged over to the coffee maker, making a sunny silhouette in front of the windows. The kitchen was breathlessly quiet, except for the gurgle of the coffee maker.

"You heard about Tiffy Trinket," Ali's mother stated. Her voice was almost accusing.

"I did," Ali said. It was her turn to sound uncomfortable.

Ali didn't look at Mrs. DiLaurentis when the woman asked, "What happened to her? Wasn't she your classmate?"

Ali already knew what Jessica was plainly hitting at. "I didn't do anything to her," Ali snapped. She was breathless, and startled by her own fear. "I hardly even met her."

Jessica abruptly looked concerned. "Are...you okay, Alison?"

Ali exhaled heavily and gulped, still staring at her fridge. Her shoulders felt like guitar strings, tightened almost to the point of breaking. "I'm—I'm fine!" she yelped. She shoved her body off of the stool and kicked the stool back into the counter, shaking. There was definitely something wrong with her. She felt wired and frigid and pained and awful. She felt like her whole body was static, or like she was the pray, huddled in the corner and squeezing her eyes shut as something lurched at her. She felt like one of the pretty little liars.

"What's wrong?" Jessica asked, horrified by her daughter's electricity. "Did something happen last night that you should tell me about?" She placed her hand, frantically, on Ali's shoulder and squeezed her muscle.

Ali turned around and froze. Something felt wrong with her body, like she had been poisoned. She couldn't even feel her own hands as she pushed her mother away from her. She couldn't even feel her tongue as she hissed and cried out loudly. She couldn't even feel her feet as she slipped across the cold floor, and she couldn't even feel her head as it slammed hard against the ground.

Ali gathered up her strength quickly and scrambled across the room, grabbing her black hoodie and keys as she opened the front door.

Mrs. DiLaurentis shouted, her mouth hanging open like a falling dress that was barely clutching the hanger, "Don't do anything reckless!"

The hallway was stuffy and hot, and the elevator even more so. At first, Ali forgot where she was going but recovered from her dizziness and knew _exactly _her destination. Sophie's street.

There were no glaring eyes in the lobby, to Ali's comfort, and the streets outside were abandoned and dim. Everyone would be sleeping in on this Saturday morning. Maybe not the police, but definitely everyone else.

The ten minutes in the car to the east part of town were a quick blur that Ali blocked out. Mostly just terrified thoughts about the last terrifying moments up in Ali's kitchen. Ali thought about her troubled mother and how much worse this had probably made her.

That didn't matter, though, because Ali's mother would always be scarred.

"Make a left onto Deco Lane," Ali's GPS commanded.

Ali knew immediately which house was Sophie's, because it was the only one with orange tape around it. To Ali's surprise, Tiffy's car was still parked in the driveway, with the door open. Ali shuddered. The cut seatbelts were swaying outside of the car, still hooked to the seat but broken enough that the other ends were hitting the cement.

Ali wondered for a moment how Sophie had broken through the seatbelts. Or maybe the police had done that part. But anyways, the street was silent and Ali decided that she wanted to see everything up close, so she parked the car a little ways down the street and walked carefully down to Sophie's house. All of the houses had huge trees in front of them, making the street like an unknown burrow and also preventing the sun from coming through. Without as much sunlight and so much shade, Ali was sure that no one would see her as she slid under the orange tape and walked up to the car. And just to lessen the chances even further, Ali pulled up her black hood and tucked her blonde hair up in it.

Ali could still smell the fumes that someone had released to suffocate Tiffy Elaine Trinket, but only faintly. When Ali heard a front door slam, she hid behind the side of the car that was facing the fence and peered over at the house across the street and a few doors down. An elderly woman left a YARD SALE ON SUNDAY sign on her tree. The sign was bright red with sloppy black lettering on it.

Once the woman had went back inside, Ali went around the car and looked inside the van. There was a blood smear in the backseat, a tiny one that gave Ali a noticeable shiver. This was where Tiffy had been sitting, about six hours ago, dead.

Ali absorbed more of the scene and even got into the car. She observed the back seat. She observed the seat belts. She had barely made it to the middle seat of the car before she heard a high-pitched scream that made her blood go cold.

Ali jumped out of the car and the door closed behind her fast as another scream echoed through the neighborhood. There was something strange about the sound; something very, _very _familiar. Ali couldn't tell where the cries were coming from, but she didn't want to be the suspect, so she started down Sophie's driveway. Her hood fell and released her blonde hair, which shook as much as her feet did. She squeaked into her car and sped away, her heart beating like a hammer against her chest.

As she was driving down the street, she couldn't help but feel like something was extremely off. There was something about this street that her head had completely forgotten, and it didn't hit her until she was almost to her house.

Ali stopped breathing. She knew who's scream that was. Her phone bleeped at the same time that she remembered why the street had felt so odd. Omi's text message explained it all:

_Stella's missing. _

And Stella lived on Sophie's street.

**Omg! What the heckle just happened? Stay tuned to find out! The more reviews, the more chapters, baby! Click that little button RIGHT DOWN THERE and you will make my freaking day. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Let me just say, peoples, that I am so, soooo sorry that I haven't written anything since a week ago. I am making up for it by making this an extra-long, suspenseful, ~awesome~ chapter. Love you guys!**

9

Dr. Sisca, also known as Principal Sisca, approached Alison DiLaurentis as soon as she entered the school doors. Ali was startled and flattered at the same time; startled because it was as if he had been waiting for her to arrive, and flattered for the same reason.

"Ms. DiLaurentis," Dr. Sisca addressed, his deep voice awkward and nervous.

"Principal Sisca," Ali said. She matched his firm tone in a mocking kind of way, grinning up at his face. He looked so much like Ian it was almost creepy, but that was why Ali was so curious about him.

There was a strange silence as Dr. Sisca tapped his foot and looked in other directions. He scratched his neck and cringed, finally breathing, "Are you liking Cassidy Morning, so far?"

Ali raised her eyebrows seductively and lightly pressed her long top eyelashes onto her full bottom ones. "Of course," she replied, her voice almost a hiss. "It's a wonderful school. Except for, you know..." She trailed off and glanced at the board across the hall, which had a picture of Tiffy Trinket tacked to the center and a few pictures scattered around it.

Dr. Sisca nodded in remorse. "Um," he started. "I'm not sure how to put this, but..."

Ali widened her eyes innocently. "What?"

"I...I don't think that you should be friends with my stepdaughter," he said.

"I don't understand," Ali said, her grin faded.

"Well," Dr. Sisca said. His face was burning. "It has nothing to do with you, as a person. It just has to do with the fact that...I don't want you to get hurt. Sophie has a...a problem handling friendships. She...tends to..." He clenched his jaw and grimaced, unsure of what to say next. "I can't talk about it right now, so just please stay away."

"If it's because she's upset about Tiffy," Ali began. "Then I can help her. Talk to her about it."

Dr. Sisca's eyes lit up, but not in a pleasant way. He looked angry. "No," he demanded. "That's not a good idea."

"Could you, say, tell me about it over lunch?"

"No," he said, his eyes softening slightly. "No. I don't eat lunch with my students." But, even though he said that, Ali knew that her beauty was driving him crazy and he really wanted to say yes, because his hands were twitching nervously at his side.

"Okay," Ali tried. "Another time, then? Dinner?"

Principal Sisca opened his mouth, about to object, but something stopped him. Something that he thought about, briefly. "I don't know," he said. "Probably not. I don't think that would be appropriate."

"Alright then," Ali said. She was smiling when she handed him her hand. He shook it. "Sometime next week. Tell me when you're free. Nice talking to you." She turned around and strutted away.

Ali tried to keep a straight face when she walked into class. All she could think about was Sophie Sisca's _problem_. Ali had experience with mental problems, if that was what she had. And Ali knew how to deal with those kinds of people.

Can you say, _Courtney_?

And if it was a health issue, it wouldn't be as fun, but it would be fun to taunt her with. Bulimia, skin problem, zit problem. Those were all things that might make her an outcast, if word got out.

Sophie walked into class, her eyes puffy from crying. When she spotted Ali, her eyes narrowed even more so. The classroom was almost empty, besides a few other kids, so Sophie was able to take the seat farthest away from Ali. Ali slid into a faux hurt expression and followed her, taking the seat closest to her.

Sophie shook her head. "What?"

"I'm sorry about your friend," Ali said. "It's so awful what happened to her. And right in your own driveway, correct?"

Sophie swallowed. "Yes," she said. "Thank you."

"If you want to talk about it with me," Ali said. "I'd be happy to. I can be your shoulder to cry on. I can help you with it." She paused and clenched her hands together, looking down at the table. "Look. I want us to be friends. Let the past be the past. I think that's what Tiffy would've wanted."

Sophie's eyes burned towards Ali's, and Ali froze. "Meet me in the restroom during lunch, Alison."

And then, suddenly, the class filled with students and the teacher began talking.

After the lunch bell rang, Ali pranced towards the bathroom and opened the door. Her head had completely ignored Mr. Sisca's warnings as she walked up to the sink and washed her hands. She wasn't sure what was going to happen in here, but Sophie wasn't here yet.

A toilet flushed and Omi came out of the only occupied stall, lugging her purse behind her. She washed her hands pettily as well and opened her purse. She fished out a tube of sweet lipgloss and coated her lips with it. Ali opened her mouth but Omi flicked up her palm as if to push the words back into Ali's lips.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said.

Ali pursed her lips and sighed. "I'm sorry about...you know..._her_."

Omi gave in. "You don't have to be," she said. "It wasn't your fault that she's...gone. Stella...her dad heard her scream and went into her room, but she was gone. Her mom and dad texted me and asked me if she was maybe at my house, or if I knew where she was, but I told them that I had dropped her off at her house last night, after you told us to leave. They were so scared because...well. Stella lives only a few houses down from Sophie, and if Tiffy's murderer could find Tiffy at Sophie's house...then maybe..."

Omi's eyes leaked of tears that rolled down her cheeks. She grabbed a tissue and wiped them away, but when they just kept coming, Ali gave her a tight hug. Ali was a half a foot taller than Omi, which made it seem more like a mothering hug than a friendly one.

Ali kissed Omi on the cheek and released her. Omi nodded in appreciation, and after checking her mascara and eyeliner, she quietly walked out of the room. Ali felt a strange sensation, like someone had been watching them, but she shook it off and recovered her confidence.

When the bathroom door opened, Ali took a deep breath. Obviously, in came Sophie. Sophie's eyes were condescending as she walked up to Ali. The bathroom door shut and a rush of cold air sifted through, trying to escape before the door slammed.

"I know what you did to Tiffy, the day that she died," Sophie hissed.

When Ali didn't answer, Sophie inhaled sharply and snarled, shaking her head. "You pushed her," she said. "She told me _all _about it. You called her Courtney. Who. Is. Courtney?" Sophie clenched her jaw. "So I looked it up. You killed Courtney, your twin sister."

Ali's body jolted up, but she pretended to remain calm. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about _you_," Sophie seethed. "I'm talking about the people that you killed." She said the word 'killed' through clenched teeth. "And I can't believe that you would try to get away with killing my friend, too."

"I didn't kill anyone!" Ali demanded. "Especially not Tiffy. Sure, I didn't like Tiffy. But I wouldn't kill her!"

"You _bitch_!" Sophie screamed. "You bloody, dirty little _bitch_!" Sophie turned around and hunched her back, crying out in anger. Ali wanted to see her face.

When Sophie turned back around, she was shrilly calm. Ali exhaled wearily but gasped when she saw Sophie's eyes. They had gone from fuming to frightened, and now they didn't look like Sophie's big blue eyes. They looked more like Tiffy's now: less apologetic and more sinister, like Tiffy, Courtney, and Ali's eyes.

Sophie's mouth was hanging open, like something was jumping into it. She sucked the air in and shut her mouth almost robotically. She lurched toward Ali and grabbed her shoulders.

"You have to run," a voice that sounded nothing like Sophie's said. "They both want to kill you. In different way_s_." Her tongue swirled on the S, making her sound both terrifying and snake-like.

Sophie's mouth was only a few feet from, still hanging widely. Ali backed into the wall and dug her fingernails into her palm, breathing hard. She couldn't move and she couldn't breathe. Her chest felt like it was being pumped forcefully, like someone was sitting on her stomach and pressing harshly into her breast.

Ali screamed. "Get away from me!" she yelped. Her voice was shriveled up.

"I'm trying to help you," whispered Tiffy's voice, coming out of Sophie's mouth.

"This is sick!" Ali cried. "This is the sickest joke I've ever heard!" She summed up all of her courage and pushed past Sophie, trying to escape through the bathroom door.

Sophie placed her hand on Ali's shoulder, but it didn't feel like Sophie's hand. It was cold, like the dead, and as it sat on her shoulder, Ali felt Sophie's freezing breath on the back of her head. It smelled like rotting flesh.

Ali tried to shake it off, but Sophie's nails were digging into the back of Ali's neck. Ali screamed again and turned around, horror-struck. Sophie's body suddenly went limp again. Her jaw shut abruptly and her eyes resumed their Sophie-coloring. Even her breath changed back to a mint-chocolate smell.

"What just happened?" Sophie whispered.

"You're disgusting!" Ali yelled, glaring. "I can't believe how twisted you are. I can't imagine how appalled your classmates would be if they found out that nasty joke you just played on me."

Sophie's eyes widened. "_What_?"

Ali's lips were still trembling. "You pretended to be Tiffy, you ass."

Sophie looked down and shook her head. "Don't forget that I know what you did."

"If you tell _anyone, _you will suffer. First mentally, then physically."

"You're...awful. Horrid. I hate you." Sophie lifted her chin and pursed her lips.

"Tell me what you just did. You were pretending...?" Ali's voice quivered.

"Let's just say that wasn't pretend," Sophie snapped. "Now get the hell out of here."

Ali opened the door and plunged out, letting it slam behind her. She still couldn't feel her whole body. She was petrified. She couldn't believe that Sophie had tried to scare her into believing that Tiffy was really talking. But Sophie was going to pay, deal or no deal.

An idea sunk in immediately, but before Ali could so much as gasp, her phone bleeped. She dug her shaking fingers into her bag and pulled out her cell phone, which read, _(1) Unread Message_. Ali shivered and touched a button.

This time, there was no message. Only an eerie smiley face and an attachment. Before Ali watched the video attached, she backed into her next empty class and took a seat in the far corner.

As she waited for the video to load, she was sure of two things.

The first was that this was definitely not a parody sent from Omi or another girl from school of a new Britney Spears music video. This record had definitely been sent from someone similar to what Ali used to be—A. She inhaled the thought.

The second was that she was sure that Principal Sisca hadn't been joking when he said that he didn't want Sophie to hurt Ali. Whatever he had meant, Ali was positive that she had just witnessed it in the restroom.

**Oh, I know. Horrible way to end the chapter, right? I guess you won't get to find out what was in the video until the next chapter. How awful. :) I promise, it will be good. Until later, ByTheBlyGirl :3 **


	10. Chapter 10  If Dying Time is Here

**This chapter is solely for my bestest friend, who has recently left. I miss you so much, B. **

**Again, sorry to my readers (which are not producing very many reviews, cough cough!) that I haven't written in a little while. Everything has been especially hard this month for me. I hope that I still have some readers! : P love you guys! **

10

Ali DiLaurentis sat in the corner of an empty classroom, her legs getting pins and needles. She couldn't feel her legs, seriously. The chair was making her butt numb. Her hair was sticking to her now sweaty neck.

The video was loading.

The air conditioning was on.

She couldn't feel her legs.

Finally, the video started. Her phone was shaking from her hands shaking, and her hands were shaking from her body shaking. Her body was shaking on account of the fact that she felt like she couldn't get enough hair and her chest was holding in a lot of stuffy black wind.

The first thing that came to mind in the video was the fact that the person recording it had been in a very stupid spot to record a video. In a bush, maybe. Or in a tree. It was dark, and the sun was either very close to coming up or very close to going down. It was too blurry to figure out which.

The second thing that came to mind was the black hoodie. Yes, someone was in a familiar van in the driveway of a familiar house. That person was clearly doing something in the back of the vehicle, and you could just barely make out the shadow through the tinted glass of the van. Someone was in the back of Tiffy Trinket's car, and that someone could have been doing anything in the backseat. Such as, maybe, suffocating someone. Such as tying two seatbelts around their chest and neck.

Ali shook. She couldn't believe that there was someone out there who had been actually filming a girl being murdered and hadn't helped her. Unless the person was the murderer's accomplice, but it still didn't make sense to have that much evidence sniffing around in cyberspace.

There was a scream that also could've come from anywhere, and then the person emerged from the van. Ali could barely see the girl's blonde hair, and all of that horror from thinking that she had been watching a murder tape dropped to her stomach.

It wasn't Sophie.

It was Ali.

This clearly meant that this was not the tape that Ali had thought it was. This was a recording of the morning that she had gone to investigate Tiffy's van. This wasn't the night that she had been murdered; this was the morning after. The scream hadn't been Tiffy's, either; it had been Stella's.

But there were people that might not think the same thing. People that would immediately come to the conclusion that Ali had murdered Tiffy. That scream could've come from anywhere; inside the van, or a few houses down. And it had definitely been auto-tuned so that it sounded a little bit deeper and less Stella-like.

But the viewers of this video would most definitely jump to the finish that the scream was from inside the van.

Ali struggled with the video. She searched for any image of the clear orange CAUTION tape, but the recorder had definitely done the smart job of filming it at just the right angle so that the bright orange tape was cut out. Ali was frantic. If someone saw this video...

As the video closed, though, Ali noticed something that might just save her. She saw the corner of the bright red YARD SALE sign.

Ali exhaled stared at the blank screen for a minute, her eyes blotchy. She wanted to scratch all of the burning little bugs that she could feel crawling under her skin, irritating her veins. She clenched her cell phone and looked around, unsure of the next step to take. The sender was unknown, but she could still send a reply to the creepy video. After all, the Pretty Little Liars had done it, although nothing came of it.

YOU CAN'T MESS WITH _ME_, BITCH. I'M ALI DILAURENTIS, DON'T YOU KNOW? NOW WHY DON'T YOU GO STICK YOUR FACE IN SOME OTHER LOCATION THAT IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE. LIKE, SAY, YOUR ASS. EFF OFF, OR I'LL MAKE YOU PAY... –ALI

Ali pretended that it would actually do something. She pretended that it was, quite simply, just a bored teenager that had accidentally stumbled across her and taped it, and they wouldn't dare mess with her after her threat. She knew that it wasn't true, though, no matter how much she wished it were. Because, after only a minute, there was another reply.

I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, ALI. AND I KNOW THAT YOU DESERVE TO ROT IN A HOLE. BUT I ALSO KNOW THAT WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND, SO THAT WISH SHOULD BECOME A REALITY SOON ENOUGH. AW, YOU'LL MAKE SUCH A CUTE DEAD BODY! XOXO

Ali took a stooping breath through her nose, remaining calm. She gazed around the classroom, her eyes feeling shaky, and was startled when she heard a mello, easy-going tune coming from her phone. And then the lyrics from "And When I'm Gone" by Blood, Sweat, & Tears sang from the message. _"And if dying time is here, Just bundle up my coffin, 'Cause it's way cold down there." _


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for anyone that has been reading this story regularly, and I'm so glad that I've gotten only positive reviews! I honestly, seriously, love everybody here on ! Everyone is so supportive. (Wow, okay, I'm going to stop sounding like a phony commercial and go ahead and start writing the story...) Thumbs ups especially to crystalpowerkiss for her epic screen name and lovely review : )**

**~ByTheBlyGirl :3**

11

Since slightly settling down into her new school, Alison DiLaurentis hadn't had much time to come up with a huge clique or anyone to torment. For days, she hadn't cared about what she was going to wear that day at school and she hadn't really even been counting her calories whatsoever. She had only had one horrific sleepover, and she hadn't really gone to the mall very much with her new friends.

So, today, Ali decided that she would change all of that. She blocked the sender of the video a few hours after he or she had sent it yesterday, and the message was pretty much swiped from her mind. She wouldn't think about anything concerning disappearances and murders, and she would avoid Sophie the whole day today.

Ali pranced into Japore, her brand-new Miu Miu glitter-yellow heels making _thump-click_ beats repeatedly. She had pre-ordered them almost a year before they were due to release and was strutting in them with more confidence then even the models themselves had brought. Sure, most of the girls in her new school might never have even heard of the expensive brand, but for sure, Sophie and most likely Omi had.

Ali loosened her pale yellow Mulberry tie, briefly stroking the huge, disproportional black star streamed across it. It had cost almost as much as the shoes.

The woman behind the cash register was completely befuddled as Ali walked between the rows of tables and chairs and waltzed up to the counter, her hand in her black Louis Vuitton purse. It was probably the most expensive bag she owned, and most definitely flashiest. The woman gawked at the ruffled purse, breath taken.

"Pretty purse," she commented, still oogling it. She glanced up at Ali's blue eyes, then back to her bag. "Um, what can I get you today?"

"A soy appuccino," Ali said. Her voice was bitter and sharp, like she was irritated at the woman for staring. "Light on the apple." Appucinos were Japore's specialty—coffee, with bits of shredded apple, gooey-sweet milk, and a motherload of cinnamon.

"Alright," the lady said. She pressed the screen on her register. "Is that all?"

"I guess I'll have a bran muffin, too," Ali said. "Those are sugar-free, right?"

The woman nodded and Ali handed her the credit card that she had dug out of her wallet. After the woman brought Ali her breakfast, Omi took her order and both of them sat down at the table. Ali glanced at Omi's solemn face and took a sip of the spicy beverage.

"So," Ali began in a cheerful tone. "I've decided that _we _need to have some _fuunn_."

Omi looked up, her lips pursed and her cheeks releasing tiny dimples. "Okay..."

"I have booked us a table at General Green and already looked over the menu. It looks healthy enough, in my opinion." She smiled and continued, "I've also looked through the new Saks catalogue. We'll be making a stop there after school, 'kay?"

Omi looked pleased. "Sounds great! I've never been in Saks. It was always such a long drive."

"Well, it will be nice to get out of town, right?" Ali looked around the cafeteria, suddenly occupied by a girl sitting a few tables down. She was sitting at the table parallel to theirs, surrounded by a group of girls that all had matching hairstyles: side bangs and long, loose curls going past their shoulders. The girl that Ali was mostly interested in had pale blonde hair with strands of complete white in her bangs. The girl was absentmindedly stirring her iced caramel latte, frowning at the light brown goo.

"Who are they?" Ali asked.

"Blegh," Omi groaned. "Just another pack of wild nerds." Omi flicked her straw upwards and sucked from the top, letting her drink drip into her mouth. She followed Ali's stare to the pretty blonde and frowned. "That's Fifi Mosse. Doesn't fit quite in with the other girls, right?"

"Other than the hair cut," Ali sneered, "she doesn't seem to fit in with them at all. What's up with their do's, anyway?"

Ali watched as Fifi flipped her white hair, letting it ripple past her shoulder blades. She glanced over at Ali, her lips pursed into a grimace and her eyebrows raised, but quickly dropped her glare and went back to stirring her latte.

"I don't really know," Omi admitted. "I think it's just some lame-ass completion in their little cult." She snickered and gestured with her chin to the other three girls. "That one with the total mustache? That's Maria Eves. I heard from Stella"—Omi winced—"that her mom and dad won't let her shave any part of her body, including her face. It's part of their religion or something."

"What a _freak_," Ali mused. "Someone should give her 'stache some highlights. Say, with a permanent marker?"

Omi smiled. "Totally." She nodded to a busty girl that was sitting across from Fifi. "Ugh, the girl with the implants? Her name is Lah Lee. Seriously, though. Her parents must've hated her. The girl next to her, the one with the _really _flat chest? That's her breast less buddy, Nada. Her chin was a total birth defect, as you can see."

"What an ironic name," Ali snickered. "Who's the tall girl next to Fifi?"

"That's Fifi's older sister, Emmy Mosse. Short for Emerald, everyone says. She's a total bitch. Supposedly, she makes Fifi buy her stuff, because she doesn't have a job and her parents took away her credit card. She blackmails Fifi for it. I don't really know how."

"Well I want to find out," Ali proclaimed. "I think Fifi's in my next period. What do you say to a third girl in our posse, Om?" Omi shrugged but smiled. "Good."

After a few minutes of gossipy chit-chat, the girls dropped off their trash and said brief goodbyes as they headed to their next class. Ali recognized Fifi's light blonde hair and immediately took a seat next to her, right under the air conditioning.

Ali tried to think of a way to open up a conversation, but before she could say anything, Fifi shifted in her seat so that she was facing Ali and smiled. "Nice shoes," Fifi announced, her lips still pursed and her head cocked towards the flashy yellow straps. "Miu Miu, right? I saw them in Vogue and ordered them a few days ago."

Ali tried to hide her surprise at the fashionista's understanding. "Thanks," she chimed. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Ali."

"Fifi Mosse," Fifi said. "Where'd you move from?"

"Somewhere sunny," Ali snapped. She tried to prevent herself from panicking at the question and cheerily gestured to her sun-tanned arms, gluing a fake smile to her face. "So is that a Marc Jacobs bag?"

"You bet it is!" Fifi exclaimed. "I hate the knock-offs people try to sell on the internet. Some guy on eBay almost scammed my sister into making me buy her one." Fifi blushed, realizing the comment she had just made and took a deep breath. She laughed light-heartedly.

"Omigod, yes," Ali said. "But at my old school, no one would get away with a fake. Girls there could spot a real Marc Jacobs all the way from the end of the halls."

Fifi giggled. "No one from our school even knows the difference between an Old Navy purse between a Chanel bag, with the exception of that bitch Sophie Sisca. Have you met her?"

"Oh yeah," Ali breathed. She smiled thoughtfully at Fifi. The girl knew her brands, but really needed a good zit-remover.

"Hey, you want to grab a snack at Japore after school?" Fifi asked. "I need to ask Mrs. Vanscoy a few classrooms down about an assignment."

"I'd love to, but I'm hanging out with a friend," Ali said, shrugging. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Great," Fifi said. She waved out of the classroom.

Ali placed her hands on her desk, satisfied. It appeared not to be very difficult to find a replacement for Stella, right? Ali regretted the cruel thought, but it was true. Besides, what was Stella to Ali? She had barely known her for a couple days before the girl disappeared. Ali bit her lip, the terror of the previous week returning.

The class filled, like schools of little fish flooding into a fish tank. Ali tried to push Stella's piercing scream out of her head and tried to absorb the comfort in the room. Heck, there were kids surrounding her! She didn't have to worry about anything, besides gossip and popularity and clutches. She was Alison DiLaurentis, always in control. She was beautiful and smart and perfect.

As Ali recited this fact and was comforted, but only for a moment. Goosebumps rose on her arm when her phone beeped.

Ali looked around at her classmates. None of them were on their phones. They were all talking to each other or studying.

Slowly, Ali reached for her bag and flipped open her phone. Slowly, her eyes bled over the screen. She blinked.

ALI, YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW THAT BOTH FRIENDS AND ENEMIES WILL DIE. WHY FRIEND THEM ANYWAY, IF I'M JUST GOING TO GIVE THEM THE SLEEPOVER OF THEIR LIVES? SO NOW YOU'VE GOT TO DECIDE: ARE OMI AND FIFI THE FRIENDS OR THE FOES? WELL, IT DOESN'T MATTER TO ME. THEY'LL BOTH SOON JUST BE GRAVESTONES IN A CROWD OF A THOUSAND, JUST LIKE YOU. TA-TA FOR NOW!

Ali choked on air, looking for the sender's name. Seconds later, another text covered the screen.

P.S. I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND THAT I'M USING YOUR DEAD EX-FRIEND'S PHONE! I KNOW SHE DOESN'T. ;)

Ali took a deep breath and checked the sender's name. The contact was clear and almost cheerful, reading "Stella"

**Hoped you guys like it! Gave you two chapters within two nights. You guys better be happy! Just kidding. Reviews are awesome-possum! XD**


	12. Chapter 12 A Whole New Byotch is Back

**So, let me just apologize. You're probably wondering why, (UNLESS YOU'RE A MIND READER, WHICH WOULD BE FRICKING AWESOMEEE) and I want to say that I'm sorry for begging for reviews, like I pretty much have since I started writing this story. : P It was silly of me. Haha, I was reading through all of the chapters, and I just noticed how fricking annoying I am! Now, I'm going to shut up and say, "READERS: do not worry about leaving reviews. Just you favoriting it/reading it makes my day. Also: if you like, I can review your fanfics! It would be an honor. Just leave a note in a review saying the name of your fanfic and I will gladly read it. Thanks so much! Like I alwayyyys say: LOVE YOU GUYS!" ~ByTheBlyGirl :3**

**P.S. Sorry that was sooooo fricking long! Now on to the story! :) Enhoy! I guess I should also mention that I'm going to be writing about the PLLs for a bit, just to mix it up. Hope that's okay! :)**

12

Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Emily Fields, and Hanna Marin stood in front of the FOR SALE sign that was standing crookedly in the yard of their fake, ex-friend Alison DiLaurentis' house, glaring at the hugeness.

Hanna kicked a clump of grass, barely daring to go farther than the sidewalk. "Remind me again why we're doing this?" She could hardly look up at the door, remembering the reunion with Alison DiLaurentis, posing as Courtney. She remembered Mr. and Mrs. DiLaurentis' pale faces as they numbly showed the crowd of people their second daughter.

"We're supposed to let out all of our anger here," Emily reminded her. "A school counselor from my mom's church suggested it. "And supposedly, it's closure." She tapped her toe and shoved her hands into her pockets.

"Well I'm really fricking freezing," Hanna said.

Aria bit her lip. "Me too."

"God, guys, it's seventy degrees outside!" Spencer cried, but a shiver ran through her back and all of the girls noticed it.

"We'll only be here for a minute," Emily mumbled. She looked at the girls' solemn faces and sniffed, glancing around the yard. "So...who would like to go first?"

"I will," Spencer murmured. "I'd just like to say...thanks a lot, Courtney. If you had stayed in your stupid mental hospital, you...and your sister...wouldn't be dead." She hesitated, a creeping feeling snatching her brain. She gulped, almost positive that no one surrounding her believed that Alison was really dead.

"Same here," Aria said quickly. "That's what I would've said."

Hanna kicked another clump of grass. "I effing hate the both of them. I don't know why their cheap parents didn't put the whole family through therapy, if not a mental hospital. Creeps."

"Hat_ed_," Emily corrected.

Spencer turned her head to Emily, her eyebrows raised. Emily was so..._pure_. Whether it was that Ali was still alive, or that she was now dead, Emily always had a fulsome hope that the girls couldn't help but be doubtful of.

Emily took a few steps so that she was in the head of the group, her jaw firm. Her previously folded arms fell to her sides, and she tilted her head, thoughtfully angry. "I can't believe what you did to us, Alison. And Courtney, too. You...the both of you...were a few of the only people I trusted with my secrets." She waited a moment for the girls to all nod in reverent agreement, then continued. "You were our friends. Our leaders. The girl—_girls _that we could never live without. Now, we almost stopped living because of you. You betrayed us, and we'll never forget it. So long, Alison and Courtney DiLaurentis."

"Burn in hell," Hanna added, a sour and angry expression pasted to her face.

Aria nodded, but then shook her head, her eyes now understanding. "You know what?" she said. "We never needed them. When Courtney first befriended, I thought that she was going to make my life better. Heck, I thought she was going to make _me _better. I thought that being with her improved me and made me cooler. Now that the truth is revealed, I know that that wasn't true. Being with her made me almost as evil as she was."

"Yeah," Emily agreed.

The girls stood in sober reverence, no more words to be said. Aria's phone chimed and she was relieved to see a text message from her best friend and boyfriend, Noel Kahn. Hanna took a deep breath and stopped clipping the grass with her toes, suddenly extremely interested in her newly furnished nails. Spencer's leg started to cramp and she decided to take a seat at the curb, waiting for her sister Melissa to pick her up, but she couldn't get the image of the burning Poconos house out of her head. Emily, terrified as well from the image of everything going up in flames, started to regret kissing "Courtney" in the bathroom. She said goodbye to the girls and turned to her car, parked at the curb.

Suddenly, a familiar noise pierced the air and Aria shrieked. What were the chances that _all of their phones _would ring at the same time? All of the girls winced, except for Hanna, who just pursed her lips. Emily burst into hysterics, loud whines coming from the back of her throat.

"No," Spencer whispered. Her voice was hoarse and she didn't even look at her purse. She was frozen and complexly terrified. "It can't be," she added.

"It's not from A," Hanna hissed, her phone in her hand. Her head was tilted upward, towards the sky, as if begging God to whip her touch screen away. "Read it."

Emily stopped crying and looked a little more relieved, but her lips still trembled. Aria gulped and reached into her bag. Spencer leaned over Emily's shoulder, reading the dark black words.

When Hanna turned towards the house, they all turned. Hanna shrieked and ushered them all into the car before they even had time to finish reading the text, because they had all seen something in the window of the house. A face and a flash of hair.

NO, GIRLS, YOU CAN START BREATHING AGAIN. IT'S NOT ALI. BUT TRUST ME, I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO GET HER BACK HERE AND FINISH WHAT SHE LEFT OFF. – A WHOLE NEW BITCH


	13. Chapter 13 The Naomi and Riley Thing

**Okay, okay...I'm REALLY sorry that I haven't written in like three months...**_**soooo sorry.**_**But, I'm making up for it, hopefully. Please, please forgive me! Shout outs to: Rimsha Duerre, MPRockstar16, and for the awesome-possum reviews!**

**Love you guys! "Enhoy" c(:**

**ByTheBlyGirl :3**

**(P.S. Today is the Pretty Little Liars first day of school. To avoid any questioning, I'm just going to mention that Ali's school started a few weeks earlier than the girls, due to her distant location. M'kay. Just wanted to clear that up.)**

13

Emily Fields walked uncomfortably around the halls of Rosewood Day, the private, snobby school that she had attended since middle school.

Everything felt different.

For one thing, she couldn't hear the word, "liar" being spread around the school. In fact, she didn't hear any secretive mutters being passed around, student by student, today. She feel any snooty glares on her back, or see anyone gossiping around her. Over the summer, every person had quickly found out about the Poconos house event, and every person in Rosewood had also quickly forgot about it, something the girls hadn't really expected. Especially Em, regardless of her hopeful attitude, had doubted that everyone would immediately have forgotten about the little liars and have wanted to get on with their _own_lives.

It wasn't only the people surrounding her that made the recently horrifying school so much...calmer. It was also that she had quit swimming over the summer, competitively, to take time to recover from her recent...incident with her now _very dead_ enemy Alison. Very, very _dead._

Emily almost felt relieved enough to relax, until she remembered the text that had been sent to her yesterday. The text that promised that Alison would be back. The text that promised that things would never, ever be over for the liars.

"Em," Aria called.

Emily turned around and saw petite Aria walking toward her, her prominent snakeskin earrings bobbing. Aria looked worried and jittery, barely navigating through the halls. She finally reached Emily and sighed.

"We all need to talk," Aria said, chewing her lip.

"You said it," Spencer agreed. She stood next to the couple so that they made an incomplete circle.

"Lunch." Hanna concluded. She peered around the school, rolling her glossy, pale pink lips. The four girls nodded, nervously glancing around as well.

"It feels so weird," Emily murmured. "No one is whispering about us. It's like...we're invisible." She took a steady inhale, her eyes opening wide.

"Someone's used to the attention," Spencer said, smiling. "I noticed, too. We can finally start over, I think, guys. No more secrets. No more lying. We need to move on."

Emily paused, looking at the expressions on her friend's faces. "Which is why we need to go to Wilden about the text, right, guys?" She inhaled again and clenched her fists at her side. "Really."

Hanna looked around and pursed her lips. "Em. It's probably just some bored teenager wanting to screw with us. Don't be so naïve."

Emily respected Hanna's coolness about the topic, but she also couldn't help but notice that Hanna was looking nervously around the halls, as if she was suspecting the lockers to open and reveal dozens of axe murderers, ready to chop of their heads.

Emily glared at Hanna, annoyed about being called naïve. "Admit it. We're all nervous about the text. Yeah, it's likely that it's fake, but there's also a chance that it's real...and if it is, then we really will have to be nervous."

Aria looked down, her lips formed into a straight, grim line. She sniffed. "It's never over with A, is it? Never." She shifted her position and stuffed her hands into the oversized pockets of her skirt.

"Not if we don't go to the cops," Spencer said. "It's not a big deal. We've been getting texts all summer, threatening us just like they're A. They've never been a big deal. Why are we getting all freaked out now?" Spencer looked coolly at Emily and gave her the sort of face that a mother would give after her daughter had a panic about the monster under the bed.

Emily gave in to her fright, feeling belittled. "You're right. I guess I was just expecting that this year would be completely creeper-text-message free. I should relax." Emily repeated this in her head. Ali was dead. No more text messages. Trust. Fearlessness. Happiness. She needed to keep all of those things in mind; those were her new-school-year resolutions. Oh, and absolutely no _lying_.

The girls all nodded, and Spencer looked relieved that everyone had decided to keep it cool about this.

"See you at lunch?" Spencer asked.

"Definitely," they all agreed. The girls all turned their heads and started towards their next classes, but they were barely two feet away from each other before they all stopped and froze, their ears pricking up, as Naomi Zeigler and Riley Wolfe walked into the school. The girls lowered their heads as the two girls walked by them, but they could still see the secretive glares that they gave the girls.

Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer all looked at each other, trying to put themselves together. Goosebumps ran up their arms when their phones hummed. The girls glanced at each other, holding their breath. Aria pressed her lips together. Emily bit the corner of her top lip. Hanna and Spencer paused, their hands suspended in an awkward position between their previous spot and their purse, unsure of when would be an appropriate moment to pick up their phones. Finally, they all opened their bags and pulled out their cell phones.

WOW, I'M HEART-BROKEN. YOU SERIOUSLY THINK THAT I'M JUST MESSING WITH YOU. I'M ABOUT AS REAL AS THE FACT THAT ALI IS STILL ALIVE.

YOU WANT PROOF? WELL, LET'S JUST SAY THAT SOMEONE THAT DIDN'T REALLY WANT TO HURT YOU WOULDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE NAOMI AND RILEY THING, OKAY? DON'T WORRY. I'M KEEPING THAT SECRET HIDDEN...FOR NOW! SEE YOU SOON! – NOT A KNOCK-OFF

**Haha, okay, hope you like it! Um, I just want you guys to know ahead of time that I didn't intend for this story to be super long. It's not going to end in just a couple chapters, I promise, but it won't be, like, 35 chapters long or anything, haha! Hope you enjoyed! (Oh, and also—if there are any mistakes in name-spelling or anything, tell me! I did do some research, but you know, just in case. Thanks!) **


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry I haven't written in so long! I've been really busy. Hopefully this long chapter will make up for it...? I should post the next chapter sometime over the weekend, but school is starting back in a few days, so it might take a while...**

**Enjoy!**

**ByTheBlyGirl :3**

14

Aria walked down the hallways with one of her arms tightly at her side, the other one holding a book, tense. New classmates were bustling around her, bumping into her, mistaking her small frame for one of a freshman's. She took a deep breath and tried to work her way to her locker, but only seconds before she reached it, she stumbled over her own little brown booties. Two strong, almost-bronze-colored arms darted to her and lifted her up right before she hit the ground.

"Thanks, Noel," she said, giving her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek.

Noel smiled. "No problem. The hallways are always tough on the first day." He paused, grinned, and added. "Especially when you're as small as you are." He gently pulled her closer, by her elbows, and gave her a long kiss, just proving his point.

Aria let go and punched him in the arm, rolling her eyes. She stepped beside him and put her combo into the lock of her locker. Noel picked up the book she had dropped and put it into her locker.

"Do you have lacrosse after school?" Aria asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Do you wanna go out to dinner tomorrow and catch the new Transformers movie?"

"Sure," Aria agreed. She smiled, regardless of the fact that she hated movies where electronic machines turned into weird, mechanical aliens, or, to be less specific, movies that Noel liked.

"Well, see you tomorrow," he said. He flashed his signature smile, the pearly-white, toothy, Noel-Kahn smile.

"I wonder about that boy," Emily joked. She appeared right next to Aria, who was still smiling.  
>"That Boy?" Aria laughed, but her smile quickly faded as the rest of her group appeared and reminded her of the horror that had happened earlier that day. "Are you guys busy today?"<p>

"I'm going back to the swim team tomorrow morning," Emily murmured.

"Congrats!" Aria said. "I know that you missed it all summer."

Emily nodded half-heartedly, not really sure if she missed it or if she dreaded going back to the water tomorrow. She was going to be seriously behind, but she had to put herself into shape quickly if she wanted to get a scholarship.

"I'm going to your house after school," Hanna said to Aria. "To meet Mike."

"I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to you saying that," Aria chuckled. She felt her cheeks get a little bit warm, remembering the awkward moment only a few days ago when she had walked into her own _living room_ to find Hanna and Mike making out on _her _couch. She was pretty sure that she'd been traumatized.

Hanna blushed when Aria stared at her, obviously sharing that memory. Emily and Spencer giggled. As if on queue, Mike waltzed up to the girls, his backpack hanging slightly off of his shoulder.

"Hey," Mike greeted the girls. He looked to Hanna. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, can you give me a minute? I'll be out there in a sec." Hanna looked at Mike, then the girls, and he nodded. Mike shoved his backpack more up his shoulder and started out the door. Hanna waited until after he had left, and then said, "So..."

"So...?" Aria said. "What are we going to do? Meet Wilden?"

"But then we'll have to tell him about the Naomi and Riley Thing," Emily said quickly.

"Maybe we should just tell him," Aria suggested.

"No!" Spencer exclaimed. "No one. Will know. About the Naomi and Riley Thing. No one." She looked at Aria. "Agreed?"

The girls all nodded, each of one of them with a look of remorse and worry on their faces. Aria didn't feel good about it, though. She didn't want to keep any more secrets from the police.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Hanna asked. "Can we go over to your house, Spence?"

"Sure," Spencer said. "Tomorrow morning."

The girls all parted ways, and Aria started towards her dented Subaru, but, to Aria's fury and disagreement, her phone rang. Not bleeped, but rang. Aria supposed that it was from someone in her family, but the little paranoid part of her felt chilly and shrill.

Reaching into her purse, she found her phone. The number said RESTRICTED.

Aria pressed the end button. She didn't want to know who was calling, on the off chance that it was the creepy texter from early this morning, but just as she put her phone into her purse, it rang again. She let it ring twice before she pressed the end button again and stopped it. The third time it called again, she finally answered it.

"Hello?" she said into the phone. No answer. "Hello?"

Goosebumps rose on her arms as a robotic voice answered. "I will hurt you. I will hurt all of you if you try to rat me out. I am close. Very close. I could make it hurt a lot." The voice didn't sound like a real voice. It sounded automatic, like someone had typed in what it was supposed to say. Every word was halted and scratchy, not really going together. "I know your secret, Aria. I will tell your boyfriend what happened over the summer. I will ruin you."

Aria felt like she was choking. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. After the voice stopped and clicked, Aria tried calling it back to see if someone would answer again, but an automated woman said that the number no longer existed.

She tried taking steady breaths, but couldn't. The person on the other end had known about what happened over the summer—the thing that Aria swore that she'd never tell Noel. She didn't want to hurt him.

So she made up her mind not to tell the others.


End file.
